Taking apart a sansa view for replacing the battery. This shouldn't be done unless you are past the warranty period or a DIY (Do It Yourself) person interested in replacing your own battery.

The model I will be taking apart is the 32GB version, the 16 and 8 models use all the same parts except for the flash chip that is soldered to the PCB.

At the bottom there will be a noticable circle on the right side. Use a pin or needle to remove that small rubber cover.

Picture below shows you where the cover is located.

After removing the cover you will expose the SINGLE screw that holds the whole thing from coming apart.

This time around I decide to use the cellphone opening tools because this isn't broken....yet. You can get this at any cellphone vendor in a shopping mall or you can buy one online at your prefered place. These opening tools are disposable after one or two uses.

The tripod I used for the zmp dissasembly is too light for this new camera to have angled at the 92 degree angle I used last time. So I will not have free hands to hold tools in the pictures this time around.

This time use the cellphone opening tool that has the wedge and run the tool all the way around the sansa view, counter-clockwise if the LCD is facing you.

You might run into issues seperating the plastic cover from the metal base due to the placement of a screw in the bottom. Do not snap the plastic retention clip when trying it. Warping of the plastic from heat and moisture can occur if the plastic retention clip is not there to block it out.

The ribbon connecting the wheel and home button to the PCB is a small connector. I decided not to seperate the ribbon from the PCB

The picture below will describe what you will need to do to get to the battery underneath the LCD.

The LCD ribbon cable turns 90 degrees and runs under the PCB on the side of the power switch. You want to lift the LCD from the opposite side that was marked for you to wedge out with a small flathead.

Here you can see how you move the LCD out of the way to expose the battery beneath.

The battery turns out to be soldered to the PCB under the black tape. Replacing the battery should only be attemped at this point by someone who can handle a soldering iron with dexterity. The area of contact is small, so you will need to have a fine tip attatchment. Removing the battery will most likely rip much of the foil wrap, so this should only be done at the time of replacing the battery for a new one.

I had to cover the flash bulb to reduce the glare to be able to get a clear view of the print on the shinny foil wrap. The power regulation PCB is wrapped in thermal foil. You might have to reuse that if the replacement battery does not come with one already. I speculate that it is also the cause of many of the battery issues people have with not holding a charge etc.

This is after reassembling the sansa view and turning it on for the first time.

The only thing now that I would as you to do is help find an online vendor that sells this type of battery or locate the proper replacement on a electronic site like mouser.com.

Would this be a good way to access the scroll wheel in order to clean it? The scroll wheel sticks like I spilled soda on it. The actual spilling incident has not been confirmed, but I have my suspicions.
I used to be able to free up the wheel by putting it in the fridge and letting it cool down. It seemed to be worst when it was hot and muggy. But I took it on a trip to the east coast (I'm in Utah) and the weather there pushed it over the top. It is completely stuck now.
thanks.

Warning: There is a lever in the lower right corner of the case that releases two pins holding the top cover in the lower left corner. Moving the lever to the right will lock it behind the PCB and disengage the pins from the top cover tab. It is best to open from the lower right corner, move the lever, then continue opening the rest of the case.

Failure to do this could break the tab on the cover that keeps it secured to the bottom of the case.

So I have some important stuff to add to this. I have been a proud Sansa owner from a C240 to C250 to an e250 and e280 and now to the View. I have an 8 gig. I have recently been having problems with it charging and even starting up, and after searching all kinds of forums seeing people mention it was probably the battery, as I had the same suspicions, I embarked on a mission to get the thing apart and figure out how to get a new battery. The following are my results.
I basically continued right from where trikon000 left off.

Little bugger before it started freaking out.

Ok... here is with the screen still screwed down.

Battery Under the screen, obviously lol.

Now here is where things get interesting. I wanted to see how the battery was actually connected to the main PCB so I had to remove 3 screws on the lower end of the player:

After those screws are removed, lifting up the screen, being very careful with the ribbon cable connecting to the underside of the PCB, you will see a small clip holding the upper end of the PCB to the chassis:
A little Tricky to get the main PCB out from under this clip. I can't stress it enough: be VERY careful when getting it out from under the clip. I used a small flathead screwdriver to put pressure on the side of the board and the case closest to the clip to get it out. If anyone has a better method, use it lol.

Here is the underside of the PCB, LCD, and battery after they are removed from the View case:

Here is where the battery and display are connected:

Here is the battery:
Contrary to trikon000, the battery is not soldered to the board, which is amazing news! It is a mini-3pin simple power plug! Much more of a possibility for user replacement!!!!! I repeat: The battery is easily user replaceable!!!!!!, as long as you have at least average technical/mechanical skills/talent and steady hands. I hope this is a help to people. Another little thing to mention: The PCB on the right hand of the screen is actually separate from the main PCB and is connected to the main PCB with the same type of pinned clip that the display uses to connect. The removable PCB is where the flash memory and memory controller are soldered on. I am assuming the Samsung chip next to the display plug to be the display controller.... hmmm... Idrk.

For the question about the display:
It's a clip, meaning display replacement is possible as well =)

Here is my View turned on and connected after reassembly:
It still turns off randomly and says it has no battery power even if it is plugged in sometimes, which i am assuming is a battery issue, also considering because when i did get the battery charged it lost half its charge after about 5 minutes of video.

(This is actually an nVidia GoForce 6100, thanks to FalconFour for the correction =] )Here is something a little extra hahaha:
Enjoy =)

Once again.... Hope this is of help to everyone that is looking to perform this replacement or a screen replacement.

Peace and Cheers.

P.S.: I found a battery here and ordered one. I will post what happens with it after I install it! =) eBay of course was the only place I could find one. There were 3 listings last night but they must have ended? This one is buy it now. Word!

Also, Here is how you can get to the wheel for those who need it:

First you have to disconnect the ribbon cable from the main PCB (or at least that would make it easier, and sorry for the double when hahaha):

Here is the front part of the case where the wheel is at. There is a front plate with 3 silver screws that need to be removed:

The inner cover can now be removed revealing the wheel assembly:
It is connected very lightly by two tiny round black clips as positions shown. All you have to do is put a very small amount of prying pressure with a small flathead screwdriver under a metal part of the wheel assembly and it will pop out.

Wheel and inner cover:

Wheel with clear plastic ring still on:

The outer clear plastic ring has to be removed. Here is where it is clipped on:
It's pretty easy to take off.

After ring has been taken off:

Here is the tricky part. I didn't go any further than this because I didn't want to risk damaging anything and also I have no need to take apart the wheel as it is completely and adequately functional. There are 4 metal clips that hold the wheel together. After you get passed this point it should be taken apart completely (I am assuming) giving a chance to get it all cleaned up or for whatever reason you need to take it apart:
Good luck to those taking apart the wheel or even the player. It shouldn't be done if the player is still on warranty, that is for sure. This embedded device is very delicate on the inside and it's easy to miss things and accidentally break things. I actually broke the upper left-top and lower-left clips that hold the front of the case on (where the wheel is) but it still clips together fairly solidly upon reassembly.

Also: Looked and that eBay listing is the only one on there, and I have not seen any other place on the web to buy a battery for this. The seller is based in Hong Kong, so it is probably legit. Will let everyone know when I figure it out. it was only $7.50 anyways haha. We will see.

Last edited by eljonny; 01-27-2010 at 03:19 AM.
Reason: Did not resize images before I posted; Added wheel disassembly content.

eljonny, thanks for clearing that up! I was reading through the original post, kinda jaw-on-floor that OP didn't even try taking the PCB out to see that it's just attached with a click-in connector - EVERYTHING in the Sansa View is swappable, down to the Flash chips (also a snap-in module). Hopefully that'll help a few people replace their batteries

Also, the chip you found, if you look closer, is really an nVidia GoForce 6100 (a goofy mashup, I know), a specialized SoC much like is used on pretty much every other portable media player on the market. Sadly, you won't see it playing UT2004 any time soon! That chip is the GPU, CPU, sound controller, and all sorts of other things, mashed into one chip!

Last edited by FalconFour; 01-13-2010 at 02:49 AM.
Reason: ...Why do I always end a url tag with a /i?

I see that you say everything is swappable in the view? Is the audio jack included in that? The music is drowned out by static and I've verified that it wasn't the headphones so I want to replace the audio jack to see if this solves the problem.

I'll do ya' the favor of predicting the outcome of that experiment: ain't gonna change a thing. The audio jack is a simple "works or doesn't" thing... only way it can fail is one side or the other being silent, or an electrical malfunction resulting in a "center channel" effect of distorted audio (where the + and - of one or both channels is replaced with the + of one and the + of the other channel)... but never something that could be described as "static".

Do you have it plugged into a power source (USB, wall adapter, etc) while you're hearing this "static" in a set of powered speakers? You could be experiencing a "ground loop" which distorts the audio and creates that static sound...

That is super cool about the nVidia chip heh =P gracias muy mucho for pointing that out hehe...

So.... Back posting...

I got the battery today in the mail. Here are some images... A little overkill, but I was excited so just bare with me hahaha...

Straight from Hong Kong baby, oh yeah =P

So... here it is. Pretty decent plastic packaging actually.

Yep.

Correct 3-pin clip, with voltage regulator

Correct mAh and voltage, just as advertised.

Back of the battery

And here it is in all it's glory haha... The view turned on with the new battery installed!
The old battery is on the right, as you probably already noticed hahaha.

Here it is connected and charging! Yay! =)

So. It's possible. I have successfully completed the repair, even though I broke those two clips in the process lol. Heck, ~$14.50 for a working View? I'm in! =) I will note though, that I had a little bit of trouble getting the new battery pack to sit right in the view case. I had to void the warranty on the battery by taking off the stickers to reveal the voltage regulator that connects to the actual contacts on the battery. I had to bend the thin metal pieces that connect the vr to the battery because they were a little bit too long, but after i bent it back into the battery pack a little bit, the battery fit nearly perfectly, nice and snug into the View case. It connected perfectly, and turned on the first time. Dealing with the long wire is also an annoyance, but not really that hard to deal with. The procedure went smoothly over all, and I am comfortable saying that most people that are comfortable with taking apart embedded devices should be able to replace the battery, screen, or flash chips with only a moderate amount of difficulty. Gotta say, better than buying a new 8GB View for a hundred bucks haha.

peace. and good luck =)

UPDATE: I found a new battery seller on ebay that sells this exact same battery, but are based in Germany and are selling it for 4 times more $$$. =/
Hopefully the other seller doesn't discontinue their View battery.

Last edited by eljonny; 01-25-2010 at 07:22 PM.
Reason: Because I can lol.

I am actually testing that right now. I have been using it today for about 3 and a half hours of music play, 128 kb/s fixed bit-rate non-DRM mp3/wma files and the battery meter has not gone down at all, which is a good sign. I know when I first got my view the battery lasted about 28 hours which was freakin' amazing lol. That didn't really last all that long though (barely a month; I used it nearly every day), as it quickly degraded down to about 10-12 hours of music per charge... It stayed that way for a couple months and then started holding less and less of a charge quite rapidly and by the beginning of the 4th month I had it, it was down to, seriously, 10 minutes to 2 hours; it got super sporadic. After that it was pretty much out of the game for use. that happened in mid-late December, and got really busy with work so didn't really get the opportunity to mess with it til winter quarter started. Probably should have just RMA'd it under warranty but it seemed stupid to me that I should send it in just for a new one (since Sandisk doesn't even replace the batteries themselves as stated here in the customer service email this guy posted; they are built to break in the process of disassembly) when I could use the same unit with a new battery. I am testing it with a 4GB microSDHC card right now and will test it without after this as it has been stated to affect battery life.

UDPATE: So I don't know if the battery I got off of ebay from hong kong goes through a calibration stage like the original one (supposedly as reported on multiple threads on the sansa community forums), but it has been going strong for 14 hours so far. The battery meter on the View screen is extremely low, but it has been like that for about 10 hours so i don't know what that is about? View probably doesn't correctly read the battery level for some reason...? I don't really know. Anyways.... I have been listening to it with moderate interaction (switching songs or adjusting volume about 3-5 times per hour) with the backlight setting on 10 seconds and the lowest brightness. I have it set at normal volume instead of high more as a personal preference than a battery saving measure, and I customized the equalizer settings. I have been listening at 1/3 volume; music quality is still 128 kb/s fixed bitrate non-DRM mp3 as I stated before; I have it on shuffle for all 760 songs I have on the internal memory and have been listening with the standard earbuds that come with the view. There is no microSDHC card inserted in the slot, as I did not finish my time test yesterday and decided to just do it without the card for the first actual test result. I will update next after it goes dead. It is seeming like the battery life is still pretty good; My constant interaction will almost for sure not let it reach the 20 hour mark, but we will see.

UPDATE: Of course I had to say something. The battery finally died after 14.75 hours of continuous use, and that is with moderate user interaction. More of a real world scenario test than just letting it run to see how long it can go. I would assume that it would have possibly hit the 20+ hour mark if I had just let it be and let it run without touching it for as long as possible/'til it dies.
For a non-OEM battery in a player where it isn't meant to have the battery changed out, I'd say that it's not too bad. 14 hours and 45 minutes is more than long enough for me as I'm sure it is for most people as well. If you use your View at work/in situations where you interact with it less, I'd assume you could easily get 16+ hours out of this battery. Definitely a plus. Hopefully the experiences of others that perform the replacement are as positive as mine was/is.